Itsy Bitsy Children
by XxNarutoFanGurlxX
Summary: Sakura picked flowers, Naruto hopped with toads, and Sasuke fought with pillows. Thus, their odd childhood was born. SasuSaku, SasuNaru AU


A/N: This story is a one-shot. Rated T just to be safe.

Summary: Sakura picked flowers, Naruto hopped with toads, and Sasuke fought with pillows. Thus, their odd childhood was born. SasuSaku, SasuNaru AU

Disclaimer - I don't own Naruto

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><p><strong><em>Itsy Bitsy Children<em>**

**_One-Shot (Rated T)_**

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><p>Sasuke Uchiha plucked a blade of grass from the soil and held it close to his face. A small insect caught the corner of his eye and he questioningly stared at it. It was a spider. A tiny, innocent-looking spider that surprisingly enthralled him. He grinned slightly and began singing, "Itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout…" He slowly spun the blade in between his fingers, watching in joy as the spider clung onto the root. "…down came the rain and washed the spider out—"<p>

"Oi, Sasuke nii-chan!" Naruto came skipping in his direction and stopped dead in front of him. He curiously gazed at the insect, and just like that, his foolish grin flipped upside down. "Ack! Spider! Spider! Shoo! Shoo, you little bug!" squealed the fox-like boy.

He sucked in a bountiful amount of air and blew with all his might. The spider ended up landing on Sasuke's nose, and the raven-haired child looked at the bug, crossed-eyed. Apparently, Naruto had a resolution to this problem and flicked it away, the tip of his fingernail leaving a narrow scratch on his skin. Sasuke simply glared while his friend stifled a laugh.

"Dope," muttered the Uchiha.

"Hey, be thankful I made it go away!" pouted the Uzumaki.

"It was just a spider."

"A very deadly one!"

"No, I think you're the deadly one."

Naruto held his fist up. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Sasuke mimicked his action, except that he slammed his clenched hand on top of his head. He smirked deviously as he wailed in utter pain. "It means that you're annoying," he smiled, "so go and play in your pond again, okay?"

The yellow-haired boy frowned in bewilderment. He shouted, "Fine! But I know that deep inside of you, you're very thankful! I just know it!" Before Sasuke could lay another hand on him, Naruto speedily scrambled away to avoid his attack. "Why don't you go and fight with you pillow! I'm not you're training dummy!"

"Fine! I will!" Sasuke crossed his arms furiously as he watched Naruto stick his tongue out. Sighing heavily, he stared daggers toward a sturdy tree to the right of him. His pillow was strapped to the trunk with long ropes, waiting patiently to be attacked. Slowly, he trudged to his so-called 'punching bag' and observed it. He was sure that the fabric of the pillowcase was beginning to rip.

No matter. He could always buy another one if this one tears apart.

Suddenly, he launched a kick at the inanimate figure. He gazed as a puff of white feathers flew from the cushion and they happily danced in the wind, some managing to escape the breeze. He caught a feather in between his fingers and twirled it, like how he did to the blade of grass. To himself, he grumbled, "I know you're not real, but I need to let all my anger out. So…here I go…Naruto is the most stupidest boy in the whole wide world and I am going to punch the life out of him, starting with this here pillow!" He angrily glared at the feather. "You listening, you little fluff?"

"Sasuke-kun, who are you talking to?"

He glanced over his shoulder and found his other close friend, Sakura Haruno, standing behind him with a tulip in one hand and a watering can in the other. He immediately blushed and spun around, drastically trying to make up an excuse to tell her. "Eh…I…" Unfortunately, he couldn't find the correct words.

He heard Naruto's snickering as the boy skipped his way to him and her. "Na na, Sakura-chan. Sasuke's fighting with his pillow again! He's a total nut head, huh?" he laughed hysterically. "He was even playing with some deadly spider!"

"It was just a spider," corrected Sasuke, "a simple bug that you blew onto my face."

Naruto grinned. "Be glad I flicked it off of you! You would have been dead!"

"No, I wouldn't have been dead," he growled, "but I know who will be…"

"Really? Who?"

Sasuke's eyebrows creased and his fists performed a series of clenching. "You!" The Uchiha leaped onto his yellow-haired friend and pinned him onto the ground. The two boys rolled around in the grass like fools, exchanging a couple of slaps and thumps every few seconds. Finally, Sasuke took Naruto into a headlock and tightened his grip around his neck, barely giving him any oxygen. "You're dead meat, Uzumaki! You hear me?"

"Sasuke-kun! Stop it! Please!"

He immediately averted his attention to her, his darkening eyes making her stiffen. He watched at her face drowned in worry and fear, and suddenly, a pang of guilt shot straight through his heart. Knowing that he was hurting her, he released Naruto and hung his head in shame. How could he let his anger overcome him? How could he let himself pain his two best friends?

"Naruto-kun, are you okay? Are you hurt? Can you breathe?"

He glared at Sakura who was now worrying over Naruto. The yellow-haired boy was bent over on the well manicured lawn, his breathing uneasy and rapid. He could practically hear his heart skipping beats.

"Hurt?" choked Naruto. "Are you kidding me? That was the most coolest fight I've ever been in!"

Sasuke's head shot up and Sakura's eyes widened. "What?" they gawked.

"I said that was the most coolest—"

"Ugh, we heard you dope," muttered the Uchiha, "We just don't see how you enjoyed it."

He shrugged. "Well it was pretty fun going up against a strong guy like you, nii-chan! Yeah, it did hurt a little and the slaps you gave me are making my cheeks tingle, but I finally experienced your strength! So now I get to train harder to match up with you! Maybe I should get a punching pillow for myself!"

Sakura's eyebrows skyrocketed. "You're weird, Naruto."

"But very determined," added Sasuke, silently.

"You got that right, Sasuke!" chimed Naruto. "Now I want to challenge you to a battle!"

"No. There is no way that I'm gonna fight a dweeb like you. I already hit you once. Isn't that enough already?"

"Fight? Oh, so you don't want to fight. I see…"

"Yeah. If you'll need me, I'll be over there under the tree, punching the life out of my pillow."

"Wait, nii-chan!"

The raven-haired boy spun around with an arrogant expression. "What," he grunted.

"I challenge you to a staring contest!" Naruto's smile widened. It was so big that it nearly made Sasuke puke in disgust.

Sasuke gagged. "No way. I already had enough of you."

"Come on! Please? Pretty please? Pretty please with a cherry on top?" pleaded Naruto.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Okay okay, gee. Calm down."

"Hooray!" he cheered as he threw his arms into the air.

Behind Naruto's gleeful shouting, the Uchiha swore that he heard Sakura snicker, "Well this should be interesting."

Great, just great. Now there was an audience…

"Naruto, hurry up and start," giggled the pink-haired girl, an eager smile playing on her features.

"Hold up, hold up!" Naruto stepped onto a flat rock and crouched, his hands planted on his knees. He leaned in a little closer so that he would be eye-to-eye with Sasuke and smirked. "There! Now I'm ready."

He stared blankly at his fox-like accommodate, puzzled and irritated at the same time. Sometimes he didn't understand Naruto and his odd ways of being 'cool'. If he could recall correctly, Naruto had once wore a cape to school and ran in the hallways like a complete fool. He didn't really care, even if the other students were laughing at him. In fact, the boy enjoyed it—he always loved attention. Unfortunately for him, Mr. Hatake caught him screwing around and had a little 'chat' with him after school. Naruto never did it again, but he continued to act foolish and dumb.

It would be kind of awkward to imagine him as a sophisticated, intelligent boy.

"Oi, nii-chan! Sasuke! Uchiha! Sasuke Uchiha!"

He blinked twice before bitterly saying, "What?"

Naruto smiled. "One. Two. Three. Go! Let's begin!"

"Oh," sighed Sasuke as he widened his eyes.

For seconds, neither blinked nor made any movement. Then a minute passed, and the two boys were still at it. Suddenly, Naruto leaned closer, almost too close that his forehead nearly made contact with Sasuke's. A moment later, the yellow-haired child lost his balance and fell right on top of Sasuke.

The Uchiha gasped afterward, realizing that a pair of lips were on his own. Unfortunately, it wasn't Sakura's. It was Naruto's.

Immediately, he pushed his friend away and scrambled to his feet. He barbarically wiped his mouth with the back of his hand in hope of removing Naruto's germs and saliva.

"You kissed me! You had your ugly plump lips all over mine!" spat Sasuke.

"Woah, hold your horses," barked Naruto. "You started it!"

"Me? You're the one who lost your balance!"

"Er…well you're the one who decided to stand in front of me!"

"Because we were having a staring contest that you wanted to have!"

Sasuke quickly yanked some roots and weeds out of the field and threw it at Naruto. He laughed in amusement as some flakes of dirt landed on his face.

Naruto sat there in bewilderment. He glanced to the right to ask Sakura for some friendly support, but she just stood still, her cheeks reddening and a grin tugging at her lips.

"Bah, you know what—"

"Naruto! Sakura! Sasuke!"

The sound of adults chiming their names filled the atmosphere. The children immediately recognized the voices.

"Uncle Iruka!" yelled the blonde, running in the brown-haired man's direction. He gave him a great big hug and looked back with a grin. "See you tomorrow guys! Same time, same place!"

Sakura nodded, waved goodbye to Sasuke, then skipped to her mother's side. She and him both departed at the same time, leaving the little Uchiha alone to stare at his older brother, Itachi Uchiha.

"Well Sasuke? Aren't we going to leave now?" chuckled Itachi. "It is getting dark and mother and father would not like it if we came back after nightfall."

"Yes, big brother." The raven-haired boy walked to his sibling and left the park with him, his little cushion dangling out of his tiny hands.

"So…how was your play date with Naruto and Sakura?"

"Er…" Sasuke looked down and blushed secretly. "Nothing, really. Naruto just hopped with his frogs, Sakura picked her favorite flowers and I punched the life out of my pillow. Oh, and we had a staring contest."

"Who won?"

"…Me, of course. Naruto tripped and blinked as he fell."

"How…childish."

"…yeah."

**_~X x . . . x X ~_**

"Shit!"

"Naruto!"

Sakura slapped Naruto across the arm, her emerald eyes blazing in anger.

"Ouch! What the heck was that for, Sakura-chan?"

She crossed her arms and stared at him disapprovingly, "Don't badmouth. Besides, where did you learn that language?"

"Uncle Iruka!" he replied. "I overheard him talking on the phone and he said a bunch of weird words!"

"Well don't copy him, dope." Sasuke plucked another blade of grass after shortly glaring at the nitwit.

Naruto murmured, "Well sorry for not knowing what is wrong and what is right."

The three children sighed heavily and fell back against the large tree stump they were resting on.

For a while, no one spoke. It was just a few long moments of silence.

Sasuke, thinking that he should leave the two of them to sit nearby the river, stood up, brushed the blades of grass off his clothes, and started off in the other direction. The blonde and the pink-haired girl stared at him confusingly, wondering why he suddenly rose up to walk.

Naruto, too afraid to ask him why, decided that he wouldn't question the Uchiha's actions. But of course, Sakura, the Sasuke-obsessed child, decided that she would question the boy.

"Sasuke-kun," began Sakura, "where are you going?"

He stopped dead in his tracks and looked over his shoulder. He gave her a cold glare. "To the river. It's five to ten minutes away from here."

"Oh." She looked down momentarily. "Well…can I come?"

Sasuke stiffened slightly. He wanted to be alone—that was the only reason why he was going there. He didn't want fan girls trailing behind him and he definitely didn't want to be around Sakura. He knows that she is highly obsessed with him, considering that she always left 'anonymous' love notes on his doorstep. That bitch would always get on his nerves, but he couldn't say that he necessarily hated her. Sure, she could get extremely annoying at some times but the fact that she cared for him made him happy.

Gee, he did _not_ want to let anyone know about his feelings toward her.

He forced a convincing frown, "Hmpf."

"Aw, please?" she pleaded quietly. "I promise I won't bother you."

He bit the inside of his cheek and closed his eyes frustratingly, "Fine."

He waited for Sakura to catch up with him, then glanced back at the now lonely Naruto. The blonde was simply staring at them, a mixture of envy and disappointment within him. Giving into pressure, the raven-haired boy gulped, "Eh…wanna tag along too, N-Naruto?"

Boy, that was hard to spit out.

Before answering, Naruto gazed at the slowly setting sun. "Nah, it's alright. I have to go anyways. Dad's finally coming back home from his business trip and I want to be there when he gets home." He smiled happily, waved goodbye and began walking toward the park's exit. "I'll see you guys some other time, ne? And have fun, you too!"

Sasuke felt his muscles tense as he started trudging toward his destination with Sakura. "And have fun, you too," he had said. Those words sounded like a tease.

Stupid Naruto.

He released a harsh breath and shoved his hands into his pockets. He kept his gaze on the things lying before him, rather than the beautiful angel beside him.

Oh God. Did he just mentally call Sakura a 'beautiful angel'? Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.

Eventually, the clear river came into sight and the two of them strode toward it. Sasuke carefully took his shoes off, stripping his socks along with them, and dipped his tiny little feet into the cold water. It stung a bit but he got used to it after kicking back and forth. After a few minutes of wading in the river, Sakura did the same thing—she removed her sandals and let her feet slide into the water.

From the corner of his eyes, he could see her flinching because of how cold it was. She's sensitive, he thought.

"Are you okay, Sakura-chan?" he asked.

He saw her blush and smiled inwardly.

She merely nodded in response.

"You know, you can talk to me. You're not really bothering me."

"Oh, okay."

Sasuke grinned slightly. It appears as if she becomes shy when around him. Perhaps he should toy with her for a little while, just for the fun of it.

"Hey."

"Um, yeah?"

"Do you like Naruto? As a friend?"

She gave him an incredulous look. "Er, what are you doing? Are we playing twenty questions or something?"

He shrugged. "I guess we are now."

"Okay. Uh, yeah. Naruto is a great friend. He's always there for us when we're sad. But sometimes he could be really dumb and stupid." She giggled to herself, her eyes cringing in excitement. "What about you, Sasuke-kun?"

"I could say the same thing," he replied blandly, "so do you have a crush on the dweeb?"

The answer to that question was definitely obvious.

"Blech, that's disgusting!" She suddenly laughed and pointed at his face. "But what about you?"

"Gross!" He rose an eyebrow at her. "What made you think that I like that freak? Besides, I'm straight."

"Well for one thing, you pressed your lips against his mushy ones," she laughed hysterically.

"_He_ kissed me. I didn't do anything at all!"

"Okay okay! I believe you!" She exposed a bright smile that he surprisingly enjoyed. "So, next question?"

"Hm, do you have a crush on Kakashi-sensei?"

"No, but he is a good friend."

"Friend?"

"Well last week, my parents asked him to babysit me when they had to go visit my grandma in the hospital. Kakashi-sensei said yes and he ended up coming over to my house. It actually wasn't that bad. He's really fun to be around, but he does love teasing and joking around a lot. Sometimes he is really annoying!"

"Odd but interesting."

"Yeah…hey, I heard from Ino that you like Anko."

"Ugh, she disgusts me. She's a great teacher and all, but she is way too weird."

"Ha, I think she's crazy too!"

Sasuke, for the first time in a while, grinned at Sakura. "Great minds think alike," he commented quite cheerfully.

At first, this was supposed to be a game in which he was the controller, but now it almost seemed as if she was pushing him out of his position. He didn't mind, to be honest, but he just found it odd that he was growing fond of her.

"So…" He kicked his feet in the water and watched as it splashed across the surface. "What's your favorite flower? I know you enjoy gardening a lot, Sakura-chan. You bring a watering can to the park almost every single day, along with sapling and flower seeds."

Sakura's cheeks reddened slightly. "I have to say that I really like cherry blossoms. They're beautiful."

"I see. What a coincidence. Your name means cherry blossom, doesn't it?"

She nodded gleefully, "Well what is your favorite kind of flower, Sasuke?"

"Hm…cherry blossoms." He gazed into her emerald eyes and saw something gleam brightly. He suddenly began to feel butterflies prance around in his stomach, sending chills riding up and down his spine. "Cherry blossoms are beautiful and alluring…" He let his gaze rove across her body, specifically her flushed face. The beauty within her made him twitch and her warm kindness made him tingle. Unknowingly, his lips curved into a small smile. "…like you." He had let the words escape his mouth, but telling her the emotions he had locked in his heart calmed him. He wanted to regret allowing her to visit the river with him, but he had a feeling that this wasn't going to turn out as bad as he thought it would.

"Sasuke…"

Her intense glare softened and she locked her eyes with his. Slowly, inch by inch, their faces neared. She was ready to kiss him and oddly enough, he was ready to do the same. Suddenly, before anything else could happen, Sakura squealed loudly, "Eek!"

He questioningly stared at her, his eyebrows creased. "What?"

"Eek! Ew! Spider! Spider!" she screamed softly. She pointed shakily at her left arm where the insect lay. It was quite huge, bigger than the last one he had encountered. "I hate bugs! I hate spiders! They are gross and icky!"

"Shh," he commanded silently, "I'm going to get it off so don't move, got it?"

She nodded fearfully, her eyes clasping together. "Get it off, get it off, get it off, get it off!"

Sasuke sighed disgracefully and held his finger close to the spider. He froze as the creepy crawler made its way onto the palm of his hand and held his breath as he felt its tiny legs brush against his skin. He wanted to gag so badly but he also wanted to look brave in front of her. Forcing himself against his own will, he let the spider crawl on him as he slowly brought it over to muddy ground. He watched as it speedily escaped his grasp, eventually disappearing into the tall blades of grass.

"Okay, it's gone Sakura."

She let one eye slide open. "It is?"

He forced a grin. "Yup, out of sight."

"Phew." She smiled embarrassingly and scratched the back of her head. "Sorry for acting like a baby. I just hate spiders a lot."

"No worries," he assured.

"Sakura! Sakura, honey! Come out, come out wherever you are!"

She glanced behind them as the familiar voice echoed in the forest. "Oh, I think that's my mother."

"Hm," he hummed, "maybe you should head out."

She sluggishly rose to her feet and slipped her sandals back on. "Yeah, I guess so," she murmured, "so I'll see you tomorrow at Naruto's house?"

"Uh-huh."

"Cool." She strode away from him as she waved goodbye. "Bye, Sasuke-kun!"

He stared after her longingly then looked down in disappointment. Should he have made a move on her before she left?

He firmly planted the palm of his hand onto his forehead and grunted. "Ugh, what's wrong with me?"

**_~X x . . . x X ~_**

_Once upon a time, their was a young boy. His name was Sasuke Uchiha. He had dark blue hair, black eyes, a pale face and a blunt smile. He never showed his happiness, barely smiled in front of his friends and always frowned, even if the day was bright and sunny. _

_One day, he met a stupid boy named Naruto Uzumaki along with a beautiful girl named Sakura Haruno. _

_Naruto was really dumb but he always made everyone smile and laugh. People always picked on him and called him names but he never minded. Sakura was very smart and talented. She was always a quiet person and never bothered to argue with anyone. But when she was furious, she beat the life out of people._

_Sasuke became best friends with the two of them. They were the 'three musketeers'…They always had fun together._

_The three children were a happy group—_

"Oi, nii-chan. What are you doing?"

Sasuke immediately crossed his arms over his paper and dropped his pencil to the floor. He glared arrogantly at Naruto, who was poking him furiously. "What do you want?" he grumbled.

"Well me and Sakura are playing on my playground, but you're just sitting here on the picnic table, writing or drawing something." He pressed his lips into a pout and squinted his eyes. "Why don't you come play with us, for a change? You're always excluding yourself from us!"

He thought for a long time before replying, "Fine, but I call the swing."

"It's my playground, nii-chan! Dad built it!"

"But you didn't call it first, now did you?"

"_…_Okay, you can use it! Just don't break the chains like you did to the ones in the Hidden Leaf Park!"

"Yeah yeah, whatever."

Sasuke crumpled up his paper and tossed it into the garbage can before claiming the swing. Lazily, he kicked back and forth, his momentum growing bigger with every swing. Eventually, he was soaring high into the sky, almost too high that he nearly flew out of his seat. The other two, Naruto and Sakura, simply watched him with interest and eventually continued sliding down the slides.

The Uchiha took in a deep breath every time he swung forward, feeling the breeze push past his hair and cheekbones. The sun almost blinded him, but he held one hand in front of his eyes and kept the other tightly wrapped around the chain_—_he didn't want to end up flattened on the tan bark.

He swung on the swing for five minutes before jumping off, with less interest of the playground than before. He sighed heavily and climbed on top of the monkey bars to rest and relax. He let his legs dangle off the edge and propped himself up with his arms.

Quietly, he stared out at the sky, observing the birds as they swooped past the trees in Naruto's backyard.

"Hey kids!"

Sasuke averted his attention toward the clear back door. Naruto's father, Minato, stuck his head out of the small opening. He looked almost too much like his son, he thought to himself, it's like a mirror image.

Minato grinned excitedly and announced, "I bought Hawaiian pizza and it's fresh on the counter! C'mon! Before it gets cold!"

"Alright!" sang Naruto as he skipped joyfully toward the door. "Food, food, food! Fill up my tummy and warm my intestines!"

"Are you coming too, Sakura?" asked Minato.

"Yeah!" she called out. "I'm just going to slide two more times!"

"Okay. What about you, Sasuke?"

Sasuke blinked twice. "Uh, I'll be there in a few."

Naruto's father walked back into the house with his son by his side, leaving him and her all alone once again.

Cursing silently under his breath, Sasuke hopped off the monkey bars and landed safely on the tan bark below. He brushed off any remaining dust he received from climbing, then started off toward the house. Suddenly, before he could even take one step, something brightly colored caught the corner of his eye.

Blinking confusingly, he trudged toward the mysterious item. It was located in the far corner of Naruto's backyard, close to his mother's_—_Kushina_—_garden. He carefully bent over of what appeared to be a rose and picked at it gently. It looks like a rose, he thought, a beautiful one too.

With care, he slowly yanked it off the soil and brought it close to his eyes. It was perfect. Its petals were a pretty shade of red and pink and the stem was a pale color of green. Amazing. It seemed like one of those unique flowers that you don't see normally.

"Sasuke-kun."

He looked over his shoulder and stared blankly at Sakura.

"I'm going in to eat with Naruto? Are you coming?" she continued.

"Uh, yeah." He scratched his head and rose to his feet, hiding the beautiful specimen behind his back. "Hold on for a quick second, Sakura-chan."

Her eyebrows skyrocketed. "Is there something you wanna talk about?"

"No, not really…" He rubbed the back of his neck embarrassingly. "I…I just…heh…well…"

"Spit it out, Sasuke." She crossed her arms impatiently and gave him an incredulous look.

"You know what…screw this," he mumbled. He quickly shot his arm out in front of him, insisting that she took the rose. She eventually accepted his gift, a blush creeping onto her face. "Just take it, okay? Don't make a big fuss out of it or anything, but I wanted to give this to you because…I…I_—_"

Sakura gently placed a chastise kiss on his cheekbone and smiled. "I like you too." And then she happily skipped into Naruto's house, whistling loudly with joy.

Sasuke pretended to not care as he followed her inside, but deep within him, his heart was bouncing off his chest.


End file.
